One of the World Trade Centre towers in New York will turn green on St Patrick’s Day.
The Manhattan complex’s 52-storey Building 7 is the latest landmark to join the “global greening” of some of Earth’s most famous sites to mark Ireland’s national day of celebration.
Others going green for the first time on March 17 this year include the Roue de Paris, the French capital’s big wheel, City Hall in Tel Aviv, the light rail system in Addis Ababa and the Boston Red Sox stadium.
The bargain-basement strategy of promoting Ireland overseas was dreamt up seven years ago when the country was cash-strapped and needed to tap into its 70-million strong diaspora to boost tourism.
Since then, iconic statues, stadiums and other structures to go green on St Patrick’s Day have included the Pyramids, Sydney Opera House, Niagara Falls, Table Mountain in South Africa and New York’s Empire State Building.
This year, Rome’s Colosseum, the Leaning Tower of Pisa, the Sacre-Coeur Basilica in Paris, the Christ the Redeemer statue in Rio de Janeiro and Nelson’s Column will all be bathed again in emerald on the day.
Niall Gibbons, chief executive of Tourism Ireland, said the success of the global greening was down to work by Irish people across the world.
“The eagerness of cities and countries everywhere to take part underlines the strength of the deep connection that people all over the world feel to Ireland,” he said.
“More than 70 million people around the world claim links to the island of Ireland and St Patrick’s Day is a truly unique opportunity to reconnect them with their heritage.”